The Island
by the-late-one
Summary: ::FINISHED:: Stuck on a tropical island may sound great to some people but not when it's this one especially when he's around (Steph McMahon, Chris Irvine and others) Please R
1. The Island

Chapter 1  
  
"And the person or persons who stay the longest will receive $3,000,000 in cash" Mr. Shan announces walking around the table as he runs his hand over the backs of their chairs. "It wont be easy but as you hear, the reward in it's self is worth the risk, a boat will arrive exactly four weeks from tomorrow and pick up any of the survivors..if there are any" He croaks, his voice just a little louder than a whisper. Mr. Shan's voice was enough to send chills down your spine, it was deep and scratchy but he almost hissed with every word like a serpent.  
  
"That's it!" Chris yells as he starts laughing "We get all that money if we stay on your poxy Island for a month! That's the funniest thing I have ever heard" Mr. Shan's slit like eyes narrow as he walks slowly over to where Chris Irvine is seated, he slams his hand down on the table in front of him. Chris stops laughing and looks up at Mr. Shan.  
  
"I'm glad you find it funny Mr. Irvine, I hope that you are the first to go" Mr. Shan hisses continuing to pace around the table, Chris slumps down a little bit in his chair and goes silent. "Now does anyone have any questions?" Mr. Shan growls looking around the group, no one says a word. "Good, now everyone I suggest goes to bed. You have a long trip ahead of you tomorrow and you are going to need all the energy you have over the next few weeks" Mr. Shan wishes them all a good night and leaves to his wing of the house.  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this! While the rest of the guys are all home for their Christmas vacation we are being shipped off to some island somewhere, and island might I add we know nothing about" Stephanie says looking like she's about to cry. None of them wanted to do this, they were told it was going to be a special Christmas vacation and that they had been chosen for it.  
  
"Aww don't cry princess I'm sure the big bad monsters wont eat you, and if they did they'd spit you straight out!" Chris laughs, Stephanie glares at him. A look of agony in her eyes, why was he always so unkind to her? She had never really done anything to Chris but any time they started to get along he would soon throw it back in her face and push her away again, this hurt Stephanie so much. She hated to admit it but she really cared about Chris.  
  
"Look it doesn't matter right now ok, we're here now and we're going there's nothing we can do, we might as well just go to bed and see what happens in the morning" Andrew says climbing to his feet, everyone else nods in agreement. There was nothing they could do. They all head for their rooms; Stephanie turns back and looks once more at Chris while his back his turned. She sighs to herself and closes her eyes trying to fight back the tears. She goes into her room and locks the door before getting ready for bed and soon falling asleep, dreaming as always of the tall blonde Canadian that hated her so much.  
  
********************  
  
Steph unlocks her door and walks downstairs to the room they had all met in the night before. Andrew, Paul and Adam are sitting round the table talking; as soon as they Stephanie walk towards them they change the subject quickly.  
  
"Were you guys talking about me?" Stephanie asks sitting down at the table next to Andrew, they all shake their heads. "You sure" Chris runs down the stairs and walks over to them "It doesn't matter." Steph whispers watching Chris.  
  
"Where's Mr. I'm so spooky listen to my voice this morning?..Oh look there she is!" Chris laughs ruffling up Steph's hair before slumping in the chair next to her, Steph couldn't take much more abuse from him.  
  
"Knock it off Chris, leave Stephanie alone" Paul says him and everyone else was getting pretty fed up of their childish bickering all the time. Chris pulls a face at Paul and sticks his feet up on the table leaning back in his chair, Chris's chair is suddenly pulled back sending him flying across the floor where he lands at Mr. Shan's feet.  
  
"You pulled my chair back!" Chris yells at Mr. Shan getting up and brushing himself off, he looks at his arm, which is now bleeding and cut deep into his flesh.  
  
"How could I have done. I was all the way over here" Mr. Shan chuckles before walking over to the table "All of you, go collect your belongings you have five minutes" he growls before disappearing out the door he had come through. They head up the stairs to their rooms to get their bags, Chris is moaning quietly to himself about his arm. He grabs his bag and heads for the stairs, Stephanie grabs his good arm and pulls him into her room.  
  
"What are you doing!" Chris shouts pulling away from her grip, she holds up some bandages "Oh.. You don't have to, it doesn't matter," He says, for the first time in his life not talking down to her but talking to her like she was a real person.  
  
"It'll get infected and get worse if we don't sort it out now, just sit on the bed" Chris doesn't put up any fight and doesn't make any of his usual nasty comments. He sits himself down on the bed, Steph sits next to him and starts cleaning up the cut and disinfecting it. "This might hurt a bit," Stephanie says spraying some disinfecting and healing spray on it, Chris winces and grits his teeth. Stephanie puts a pad over the length of the cut and starts bandaging it up round his arm and down to his hand, she ties it off. "There you go, it might need changing someone, just ask" Steph says not wanting to look him in the eye, she grabs her bag and heads for the door. He gets up and follows her downstairs.  
  
"All ready?" Adam asks grinning round at the group, was he the only one that was looking forward to this trip? They all go outside and see a small mini bus waiting to pick them up, they all pile on. The guys all sit further forward, Steph makes her way to the back and sits down. Chris walks over to her and sits in the seat in front on her and pokes his head through the gap.  
  
"I just wanted to say thanks" Chris says sounding like he almost meant it, there was bound to be a joke or nasty comment somewhere along this.  
  
"It's ok, anytime," Steph mumbles, wait for it; she thought he's going to say something mean.  
  
"Your great with your hands!" Chris laughs; there it was the nasty comment. Why did she even like him, he was such an ass to her all the time, even when she tried to help him. Steph pushes Chris's head back through the gap and he goes back to his seat laughing. This was going to be the worst Christmas vacation EVER! 


	2. Helping the princess

Chapter 2  
  
"You ok with that, want me to carry it for a while" Paul asks falling back behind the group a little bit so he can walk with Stephanie, these bags were heavy and Steph was struggling with hers but she wanted to prove she could do it on her own.  
  
"I'm fine honestly Paul" Stephanie says "I've got prove to certain ass holes around here that I'm just as good as they are" Stephanie rolls her eyes as she sees Chris running up the hill carrying his bag like it was a bag of sugar tied to his back. Paul looks at Chris and laughs.  
  
"Just ignore him, he doesn't know you" Paul says, he grabs her bag off of her back and straps it to his "I don't mind carrying for a while" Paul was right, Chris didn't know her. Not even Paul her ex boyfriend knew her very well, she wasn't very good at opening up to people and telling them how she really felt, they'd only split up because they'd decided they were better as friends which they were.  
  
"Thanks Paul" Stephanie whispers to him so he can just about here, he smiles at her and puts his arm around her as they carry on hiking to the top. Adam slows down a bit and waits for Steph and Paul to catch, Chris runs on ahead showing off.  
  
"He is starting to do my head in" Adam says through gritted teeth "I hope he gets lost so we don't have to put up with him for much longer" Adam grins at the idea of loosing Chris in the jungle somewhere. The groups carry on walking on the gentle slope and soon come to an ending on the cliff, the look down over the edge and see some ropes leading down into a lake.  
  
"No way!" Stephanie yells seeing what they have to do "I am not climbing down there!" she says backing away from the edge, Chris lays down on his belly and looks over down into the lake.  
  
"It's too far don't to jump into the lake, it looks pretty deep but we don't know how deep it is" Chris says climbing to his feet, he grabs hold of one of the ropes and jumps over the edge.  
  
"Chris!" Stephanie yells running to the edge to see him slowly climbing down the cliff face and dropping into the lake, he swims to the surface and looks up at them all.  
  
"Was that concern I heard in your voice Steph" Chris says laughing "Chuck me down the bags one at a time, I'll try to keep them dry" He shouts up to them.  
  
"I'll lower them on the ropes to you!" Adam yells, he grabs one of the ropes and ties one of the bags to it before slowly lowering it into Chris's hands. Chris holds the bag up high above his head and swims to the edge chucking it onto the sand. "Steph we could lower you down, your lighter than both me and Paul" Adam says looking up at Steph.  
  
"I'll go down first then you can lower her to me" Paul says walking over to the edge, Steph grabs Paul's arm, he turns back to her and takes her hand "I'll be ok" Steph nods her head as Paul hangs his legs over the side of the cliff, he holds onto the rope tightly and starts abseiling slowly down to the lake, he drops himself in. "Your turn Steph, Adam be careful with her!" Paul yells up, Adam grabs on of the bags and puts it on Steph's back and does up the belt that holds the bag onto her.  
  
"This will do as a harness for now, hold onto the rope and use your legs to stable yourself so you don't hit the cliff ok, Paul's right there he'll help you" Adam says securing the rope to the bag. "The first bit will be the worst" Adam tugs on the rope checking it's safe.  
  
"Paul I cant do it!" Stephanie shouts down to him looking over the edge, "I can't do this anymore!" Stephanie bursts into tears.  
  
"Give me a rope, I'm going to go and get her" Paul says snatching the rope from Chris and tying it round his waist tightly.  
  
"I'm lighter than you, I'll go get the princess" Chris says, what was he saying why should he help her Chris thought, he looks down at his arm, she had helped him with his arm and sounded pretty concerned when he went over the edge. Paul nods his head and unties the rope and hands it to Chris. Chris starts climbing up the cliff face towards the top "Steph put your legs over the edge" Chris shouts up to her as he gets close to the top. She does as she's told, he reaches the top and grabs hold of the edge pulling himself up and sits next to her. "Your going to do this whether you like it or not"  
  
"I..I cant, I'm scared" Stephanie croaks, Chris could see how scared she was. She was shaking all over, Chris pulls her in closer to him and ties her to him still keeping the rope attached to her on the bag for extra support.  
  
"Your going to be fine. trust me" Chris says, he takes Stephs hands and wraps them around his neck. She buries her head into his shoulder and cries. "I'm going to move us over the edge, just hold onto me" Chris says in her ear quietly. Steph nods her head, Adam holds onto her rope making sure she doesn't drop even a little bit. Chris pushes off from the cliff, he feels Stephanie grab hold of him even tighter, he wraps his arm around her and puts her legs around his waist as he starts climbing down the cliff. They reach the end of the rope; the last bit was to drop into the lake. Chris starts untying the rope attaching the together.  
  
"What are you doing, don't let go of me" Stephanie cries.  
  
"I'm not going to let go of you, we can't be attached or we'll drown. I'm not going to let go of you I promise, keep hold of me," Chris says as he undoes the last of the knots. He grabs the rope with both hands now holding up both his and Stephanie's weight. "Ok we're going to drop after three ok 1..2...3" Chris lets go of the rope and they fall into the lake, Paul dives under the water and grabs Stephanie pulling her up to the surface, he un- straps the bag straight away that's pulling her under and swims to the edge with her. Adam drops the last two bags into the water not really caring that they got wet now just wanting for them all to get onto the land below. Adam climbs down the cliff and him and Chris swim to the edge pulling the bags along with them.  
  
"Is she ok?" Chris says as he lies down in the sand not far from Steph, Paul has his arms wrapped around her and she's still crying.  
  
"She'll be ok" Paul says, Chris sits up and moves towards them. He sits down in front of Steph and puts his hand on her shoulder; Steph looks up and sees him. He was purposely showing some affection towards her, she couldn't believe it. Steph grabs Chris throwing her arms around his neck; he wraps his arms around her and hugs her looking a little shocked. Paul looks over to Adam and gives him a little smile.  
  
"We better be finding somewhere to sleep, it's getting dark" Chris says pulling back from Steph and picking up his soaking wet bag. Paul pulls Stephanie up and picks up her bag and his own and pulls them onto his back.  
  
"If we stay close to the cliff it will give us protection from the weather and there might be a shelter or something" Adam says emptying out his boots before putting them on again. The others all agree sticking to the cliff would be safer than to start wondering off into the unknown jungle. Steph runs to catch up with Chris who is leading the group.  
  
"Thank you" Stephanie says quietly staring at the ground as she walks along; Chris glances at her and then back to where he's going.  
  
"Any time" He says seeing that she smiles to herself, they walk in silence along the sand tracing the cliff along finding somewhere to stay.  
  
"What about there" Stephanie says pointing out an overhang in the cliff forming a small shelter, Chris looks down at her and nods his head.  
  
"Well done, that's perfect" Chris says to her before sprinting off towards it, he complemented her she thought. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad vacation as long as she stuck with him. 


	3. Playing around

Chapter 3  
  
"We need some more wood if we're going to keep this fire going" Chris says putting the last of the branches and leaves onto the fire "Steph do you wanna come with me?" he asks looking over at her as she finishes laying out all the contents of their bags trying to dry them. She looks at Paul he just shrugs his shoulders.  
  
"Erm.Yeah all right" Steph says smiling to herself, what was going on with him? One minute he was nasty and making jokes about her and the next minute he was being nice to her and asking her to help him collect wood. Maybe this was just a trick to try and get her to make a fool of herself or something. Chris starts off down the beach, Steph goes after him and catches him up. They walk in silence for a while picking up bits of wood here and there, Steph watches as Chris runs his toes through the sand as he walks. "Do you hate me?" Steph suddenly blurts out without thinking.  
  
"No of course I don't hate you" Chris mumbles still staring down at the floor as they walk "Why would you think that?" Chris then looks up at her questioningly.  
  
"Because you always make fun of me and make everyone laugh at me, and you call me names and make me cry," Steph says, "You make my life hell Chris Irvine!" Steph yells, shocked at the tone of her own voice. She stops walking and stands staring at the ground, she couldn't believe she'd spoken to him like that. Chris walks back a few steps so he's in front of her.  
  
"I..I don't know what to say, I'm sorry, I didn't realize what I said made any difference to you" Chris says softly trying to get her to look him in the eyes. "I wouldn't have said it if I knew it upset you" Steph couldn't believe it, first he had apologized and now he was being all kind and sweet to her.  
  
"Hmmm, im not sure if I believe you Mr. Irvine" Steph smiles at him hoping he'll smile back, she loved his smile. It was one of the best parts of him, apart from his hair, his eyes, his face his body..well everything about him was his best part. Chris laughs and shakes his head.  
  
"Fine don't believe me but it's the truth, now are we going to collect some wood or not" Chris starts walking on ahead and starts picking up bits of driftwood and things for the fire. Steph looks along the beach at the unfamiliar landscape, the whole island just seemed kinda creepy to her. She runs to catch up with Chris not wanting to be far from him, and not just because they were in a strange place.  
  
"Is the water cold?" Steph asks walking along the waters edge as Chris wades in a bit deeper, the water just splashing up against his rolled up trousers. He looks over to her and flashes her a cheeky grin.  
  
"Well why don't you just come in and find out yourself!" Chris laughs coming splashing towards her, he grabs her arms and pulls her into the cold water making her squeal. He picks her up and drops her into the water making her scream even louder and grab onto him.  
  
"What was that?" Andrew asks looking up from the fire back at their little camp, he looks at Paul. They were the only ones on that island and they had both definitely heard a scream. Adam is asleep inside so they quickly get up and head towards the beach where they had heard the noise.  
  
"So is it cold?" Chris chuckles as Steph finally manages to get to her feet, her clothes drenched and her hair all messed up, She stands in front of him with her hands on her hips looking at him. "Erm..Sorry?" Steph grabs his shoulders and shoves him backwards making him fall over into the water. Chris surfaces, a big piece of black seaweed stuck to his hair making Steph laugh. He pulls her back into the water and they start splashing each other and laughing. Paul and Andrew run out of the clearing to the beach, they walk towards the water, Paul coughs loudly making Steph and Chris stand up.  
  
"What happened to you two?" Andrew laughs watching as the two walk towards them and out of the water onto the sand. Chris starts ringing out the water from his hair and clothes and chucking the piece of seaweed at Paul.  
  
"I thought Stephanie needed her annual bath" Chris laughs he looks over to Steph who scowls at him. He puts his hands up in surrender and laughs "I'm sorry Stephy, I didn't mean it" He flashes her his Cheshire cat grin making her smile. They all start back up the beach and through the clearing to where they had set up their little camp. Chris walks quickly to catch up with Steph as Paul and Andrew fall behind collecting the wood that Steph and Chris were meant to have got. "I'll get you later for pushing me over Princess" Chris whispers in her ear.  
  
"Oh I'm scared" Steph says patting her mouth in a false yawn "What do you have in mind?" she asks raising her eyebrows at him trying hard not to laugh.  
  
"I'm sure I can think of something to do to you" Chris replies loosing all interest in this conversation now, he pulls of his soaking hockey jersey and ties it around his waist, he looks at Steph watching him and winks at her making her blush and turn her face away from him suddenly finding something interesting in the other direction "You make me laugh"  
  
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Steph says turning back to face him.  
  
"I'd say that's a pretty good thing" Chris laughs, he drops the small bundle of wood down next to the fire and walks inside their little cave. Steph sits down by the fire and watches as he zips off the bottom of his trousers till they are shorts and brings them back out along with his shirt to dry by the fire. "You'll get cold if you stay in those wet clothes you know" Chris looks up at her before chucking her a sweatshirt "My bag was a lucky one, all my stuffs dry" Steph goes into the cave to get changed into the sweatshirt. 


	4. Stephys in lurve

Chapter 4  
  
Steph lies in the sand next to the lake, trying to get a suntan. Andrew, Paul and Chris are showing off by diving and jumping off the top off the cliff they had to scale just a day before. She looks up watching them throw themselves into the water. There was no way In hell there were getting her to jump off that thing, unless she got to hold onto Chris of course, then she might think about it.  
  
"Your in my sun, Cant you see I'm sunbathing here?" She says looking at Chris who stands above her blocking out the sunlight; he shakes his head and his making the water splash onto her. She kicks her legs out trying to get him to move out of the way but he grabs her ankle.  
  
"Come in, it's really warm" Steph wriggles free from his grip and shakes her head closing her eyes again and going back to her tanning. "Plllllease, come on. You can't see me diving from here," he protests dropping himself down into the sand next to her.  
  
"Why would you care about me watching you dive" Steph laughs "Who says I haven't been watching you anyway?" Steph rolls over onto her side and smiles at him. He lies down next to her tucking his hands under his head and closing his eyes. Steph traces her finger through the sand drawing pictures in the light colored grains. Chris rolls over onto his stomach and rests his head on his folded arms watching her; she quickly wipes the sand flat with her hand.  
  
"Aww they were beautiful little hearts, Stephy's in lurve!" Chris laughs "Is it..Paul? Or maybe Aaaandrew!" he says drawing a big heart and writing her initials and a question mark with it in the heart. Steph brushes it away quickly and gets up and walks away from him "Stephy, I was only joking!...STEPH!" Chris yells after her, she ignores him and walks back to their little camp. Adam is sitting in the shade sorting through all their stuff and organizing it.  
  
"I didn't think you were the tidy organized sort," Steph says sitting down next to him to see what he's doing.  
  
"I'm not, but someone's got to make sure that we have enough food to last till we can find away to collect some for this place" Adam notices that she looks upset about something and puts his arm across her shoulder "What's wrong?" he asks, before Steph knew it she was telling him everything. He just nodded knowingly, was it just her or, did he already seem to know all this?  
  
********************  
  
It wasn't cold out but Steph pulls her sleeping bag up tighter around her shoulders more for comfort than anything, the fire lets a soft glow of light into the mouth of the cave. Steph listens to the noise of the others sleeping around her as she curls up tighter in the corner she chose to sleep in. Steph looks up when she hears a rustling of someone's sleeping bag and sees a figure shuffling towards her before tripping over and falling over.  
  
"Chris..is that you?" Steph whispers sitting up and looking through the darkness to where she heard the noise. She listens for a reply from him but doesn't hear anything. The figure climbs to their feet chucking the sleeping bag to one side and walking over to her.  
  
"Yeah it's me, I fell over" Chris whispers trying hard not to laugh at his own clumsiness "Stupid sleeping bag, I chucked it over there somewhere, mind if I share yours?" Chris laughs, Steph was sure that if she could see his face properly he would be grinning like a mad man right now. "Im sorry if what I said earlier upset you"  
  
"It's alright, it doesn't matter" Steph mumbles feeling him sit down next to her. "Why does it matter to you anyway?" Steph sits up just being able to make out his silhouette with her eyes now adjusting to the darkness.  
  
"I care because I like you and I want us to be friends, I'm really, really sorry for all the things I said to you and I know I took it too far and should never have taken it out of work but I didn't know you actually felt bad bout the things I said to you" Chris puts his hand over hers and smoothes the skin with his thumb.  
  
"It didn't matter during work but then when you started saying it to me backstage without all the cameras and audience there just everyone I worked with it hurt me" Steph whispers glancing down at their hands  
  
"Im sorry, I wouldn't have done it if I realized. Now are we ok and I can sleep easy without this worrying me?" Chris climbs over her and searches around in the dark for his sleeping bag.  
  
"Yeah ok, we're fine. At least someone can sleep" Steph moans, she hated sleeping outside not that she was doing much sleeping. There were way too many strange noises, and not just the guys snoring either. Chris finds his sleeping bag and crawls back over to her and lies down next to her.  
  
"You just cuddle up to me honey and you'll be asleep in no time," Chris whispers wrapping his arms around her before she can say anything. Steph thinks about pushing him away and asking him to let go of her but decides against it and cuddles up close to him, she would be mad to turn down an offer like this and well, he was so damn comfortable. "You alright there princess?" Chris asks sleepily, Steph just nods her head and sighs making him laugh quietly.  
  
"Chris." Steph whispers softly, he doesn't say anything so she pokes him hard in the ribs waking him up, "Chris, are you awake still?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm awake what's wrong?" Chris sits up his arms wrapped loosely around her.  
  
"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were ok" Why had she said that? He'd think that she was a total freak now waking him up just to ask him that. Chris lies back down next to her, he rests his head on her shoulder so that his cheek is against hers and takes her hand in his.  
  
"Night Stephy" Chris whispers. 


	5. One down, four to go

Chapter 5  
  
Steph goes about tidying up a bit, the others had all gone out looking for wood and to see if their home made fishing nets and traps would work. She had her personal stereo turned right up and was singing away to herself as she started rolling her their sleeping bags and putting them up onto the ledge. Chris sees her at the far end singing and dancing around, not aware of her surroundings. He sneaks up on her and grabs her wrapping his arms around her waist.  
  
"Someone's in a good mood this morning" Chris whispers after pulling the headphone out of her ear  
  
"God Chris, you scared the life out of me" Steph sighs startled at his sudden appearance "I thought you went with the others" she says letting the walkman fall gently to the floor and turns to face him. She puts her arms around his neck and looks up into his face trying hard to resist the urge to kiss him. In only a couple of days she was already feeling so close to him and being in this environment was great, she could spend time alone with him and they would talk for ages about everything. It was like they had been best friends forever.  
  
"I did go with them but I got bored so thought I'd come back here and see you, I'm sure those idiots can work out how to use those nets themselves but we could take a walk or something and go and see them on the way back if you want" Chris suggests pulling away from her a little bit and placing his hands lightly on her hips.  
  
"Yeah ok, I'll get our towels we could go for a swim" Steph walks over to their bags and chucks him his towel, he wraps it round his neck as she walks back over to him and takes her hand slipping his fingers between hers. Steph looks at him and he just smiles at her, she didn't know what he was doing but everything he was doing now were such couple-ish things to do. They head out onto the beach and see the others standing at one end of the cove on the rocks testing the nets.  
  
"How bout we put our stuff here" Chris drops his towel down and sits in the sand with his legs tucked up beneath him, Steph kneels down in front of him. She looks over to where Paul and Andrew are trying to throw Adam into the water and smiles, "I.er have a present for you" Chris says reaching into his shorts pocket and pulling out a necklace of shells "I made it this morning, I found a reef with loads of shells and stuff and thought you might like them, I know it's not much but it's all I could find" Chris laughs as Steph lets him put it on her, she holds it in her hand looking at it; The bright blue, pink and yellow shells sparkling in the sun.  
  
"It's beautiful" Steph smiles at him. She leans in and kisses him softly on the lips, she'd meant to pull back out of the kiss but it continued and he was kissing her back. He pulls back and smiles at her she puts her arms around him and hugs him "Thank you" she whispers.  
  
"Your welcome.." Chris says looking at her "So." He says awkwardly not knowing what to say to her, Steph just laughs, this must be the first time she'd ever seen him speechless. "Stop laughing at me, it's not my fault I'm all embarrassed now," Chris says linking his fingers together and placing them on top of his head.  
  
"Embarrassed about what? Embarrassed that you kissed me back and enjoyed it" Steph laughs; she pushes him back into the sand and climbs to her feet brushing the sand off of her. Steph goes to walk away.  
  
"Whoa, where are you going" Chris jumps up and runs after her, he wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him and kisses her again "So what if I enjoyed it" Chris laughs, he picks her up and starts running down the beach with her in his arms back towards the camp.  
  
********************  
  
"We never did go swimming" Steph mumbles tracing her finger along his jaw line as she lays in his arms next to the fire. The others still hadn't returned "It's getting dark, I wonder where the others are?.maybe we should go and look for them or something" Steph says sitting up, she puts some more wood on the fire and leans against Chris again.  
  
"They've got an hour or so till it's completely dark" he says looking up at the darkening sky "They'll come back when they're hungry" Chris laughs, he picks her up and lays her down on the ground and kisses her.  
  
"CHRIS! STEPH! WE CANT FIND PAUL!" Adam and Andrew coming running over to them through the jungle, Chris quickly stands up brushing himself off, he looks at Steph after hearing this and walks over to them.  
  
"What do you mean you can't find him?" Steph says getting up and walking over to them "He was with you" Steph's voice was shaking, Paul was on his own somewhere, in the dark on a strange island. Chris puts his hand on her back for comfort realizing how worried she sounded.  
  
"We've..been looking for.him for.hours, about.an hour.after we.saw you two.leave he just.disappeared, we've searched..everywhere for him!" Adam says still out of breath, he sits down on the ground and puts his head on his knees bringing them close to his body "We couldn't find him"  
  
"We thought he was messing around at first, just trying to wind us up and get us worried. We thought he'd just show up and make a big joke of how much he scared us but this was hours ago. We searched all along the coast for him and as far as we dared go into the jungle but there was no sign of him" Andrew takes over explaining.  
  
"Steph!" Chris yells after her as she walks away, she didn't know where she was going to look but she had to find Paul. They could just leave him out there on his own, Chris runs after her and grabs her arm trying to stop her "You wont find him now, it's dark!" Chris protests as she pulls away from him and carries on walking "Please, just listen to me! You wont find him on your own!"  
  
"Then help me!" Steph shouts back at him before collapsing into his arms crying, "We have to find him," Steph sobs. Chris holds her tightly letting her cry into his shoulder.  
  
"We will, I promise, we'll find him" Chris whispers smoothing out her hair "It'll be ok, Paul can look after himself" Steph knew Chris was right but she couldn't help but worry about him. Paul was one of the best friends she had and didn't want anything to happen to him.  
  
"This shouldn't have happened yet" Andrew moans "They aren't supposed to have got together so soon," He says sitting down next to Adam. Adam puts his head up and looks over to Steph and Chris.  
  
"Well at least we didn't have to do much, just keep to the plan and it'll be fine.how did you like my acting by the way? Did I fool you about how worried I was about Paul?" Adam laughs, "We couldn't find him" Adam pretends to sob before bursting out laughing.  
  
"Yeah you were great, this is just too easy" Andrew laughs giving Adam a high five. 


	6. The Plans going wrong

Chapter 6  
  
It had been four days since Paul had gone missing and no matter how much they searched and called for him they couldn't find him anywhere. They had been on the island nearly a week now and although they had sorted out a food and fresh water supply and had started making their camp more comfortable Steph spent most of her time on her own or with Chris talking to him. He would just sit there listening to her talk about Paul and how worried she was about him.  
  
"Im sorry for keep making you listen to me talking about Paul" Steph says bringing her knees close to her and hugging them tightly, the sun was starting to set on the horizon casting the last of it's bright red and orange rays onto them. Chris throws the last of the stones skimming across the water before walking over to her and sitting down.  
  
"I don't mind, I know you're worried about him. He'll be alright, besides its good that we can talk to each other about stuff like this right?" Steph just nods her head, he puts his arm around her and she lays her head on his shoulder. They'd spent all evening on the beach, mostly on the huge sand stone rock that sat at the edge of the sea, the one that they had been fishing off of when Paul had disappeared. When the tide was at it's deepest all along the coast you could dangle your feet off the edge of the rock into the water. "Wanna go back now?"  
  
"Yeah alright" Chris gets up and puts out his hand to her, he walks over to the edge and jumps down into the sand before turning and helping her down too.  
  
"Is there really any point in us going ahead with it!?, I mean it's worked now so we shouldn't have to finish It!" Adam says angrily throwing a piece of driftwood at the cave wall, he goes to throw another one but Andrew snatches it from him and chucks it onto the fire.  
  
"Look I know it sucks but we cant just abandon it half way through, Paul had to so we have to as well, it's not fair if he had to and we don't and just stay here in.luxury" Andrew sighs "Look just shut up now, they are coming. We'll talk about it later" Chris and Stephanie walk towards them.  
  
********************  
  
"Chris are you awake?"  
  
"Yeah, what's wrong?"  
  
"I heard them talking"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Adam and Drew, they said something about tomorrow"  
  
"What about tomorrow?"  
  
"I'm not sure, I didn't hear much but something is going to happen tomorrow"  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Something about Paul"  
  
"Don't worry, it's probably nothing, we'll talk tomorrow"  
  
"Ok, your probably right"  
  
******************** "So what exactly did you hear?" Chris asks crouching down in front of her and taking her hands, he looks over to where Adam and Andrew are sitting eating their breakfast, drinking their tea and whispering to each other. "There is definitely something going on, I just don't get what"  
  
"I didn't hear much, they stopped as soon as they saw me standing there. I just pretended I was doing something else and wasn't listening to them; it was just after we'd eaten. They were talking about today and a plan or something. Adam was saying how he couldn't go through with it because he didn't want to but Drew told him he had to. I didn't hear anything else. What's going on?" Steph looks over to them too, they look over their shoulders at her before going back to whispering "I hate this" she whispers putting her arms around Chris's neck.  
  
"I'll go sort this out" Chris gets up and walks over to Adam and Andrew, Steph watches as he talks to them. Adam and Andrew are pretending he doesn't know what he's talking about and they keep shrugging their shoulders and telling him he's mistaken. Steph flinches and puts her hands over her eyes as Andrew and Adam jump to their feet after Chris has obviously said something to make them angry.  
  
"You calling me a liar!" Adam yells shoving Chris backwards.  
  
"That's exactly what I'm calling you, now tell me what the hell is going on!" Chris shouts back pushing Adam hard in the chest, Adam stumbles backwards and lands in the sand. Andrew grabs Chris's shirt and shoves him against the wall of the cave.  
  
"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Steph pushes Andrews arms off of Chris and stands in between them "Stop fighting, please! Look I heard you two talking, we know there's something going on and I suggest you tell us now what you lot have been planning, you have exactly three seconds to start talking.both of you! 1..2.."  
  
"Ok! We'll tell you!" Adam shouts jumping up to his feet, Andrew glares at him and shakes his head for giving in so easily. Steph pushes them towards the boulders they had set out as seating next to the fire and makes them sit down. Chris looks at Steph amazed, she had so much control over them and she'd hardly said anything.  
  
"Adam!" Andrew yells punching him hard in the arm "What did you have to go and do that for!" Andrew folds his arms and sits glaring at Adam obviously angry that they had to give the plan away.  
  
"There is no way in hell I am arguing with her, I don't care what you say and how secret this stupid plan, which might I add I didn't want anything to do with! I don't care how important it is I am telling her!" Adam says, "Before we tell you, you have to understand that none of this was our idea at all"  
  
"Ok look, the thing is we were sent here by your dad to get you two together, and being the sick twisted individual our great boss is he got one of the writers to come up of a way to do this and they decided that by getting rid of me, Adam and Paul you guys would get to spend time together on your own" Andrew says "By the way, tell your dad I called him great, I wanna pay rise!" Andrew laughs, Adam rolls his eyes.  
  
"Yeah so they decided that a great way to get rid of us was to kill us off or something or just make us disappear," Adam continues the story.  
  
"So that's why Paul's missing?" Steph asks thinking that she's beginning to understand the way this plan was going.  
  
"Well yes and no, the thing is yes he was meant to disappear.but not for another few or so..him disappearing now wasn't part of the plan, I swear we have no idea where he is" Adam stares at the floor. Steph looks over to Chris, their plan was going wrong? So where was Paul!? 


	7. I think I love you

Chapter 7  
  
"Are you alright?" Chris asks sitting down next to her, Steph looks at him and smiles.  
  
"Yeah I'll be fine, just still a little bit shaken after we found him" Steph sighs, the last couple of days had been a complete blur. First Adam and Andrew had told them about their big plan and that Paul going missing wasn't part of it. Then they spent the next couple of days searching as much as they could for him, going further and deeper into the jungle than they had before..and then, they had found him. Washed up on the beach, barley alive but alive he was.  
  
"We're taking care of him" Chris kisses her lightly on the forehead and goes back to check on Paul, he'd been sleeping a lot since they found him, slipping in and out of consciousness. Chris thought it was probably from his injury, the loss of blood and the infection. Steph couldn't help but feel sick when she thought about it; something had taken a bite out of his leg. His fever had subsided but he still hadn't come round completely.  
  
"I'm sorry Steph" Andrew mumbles putting his hand on her shoulder as he walks round to talk to her, he sits down next to her and looks over his shoulder into the cave "It's all our fault Paul's in this mess, that we're all in this mess"  
  
"It's alright, it's not your fault" Steph says turning round quickly hearing Chris calling her.  
  
"Guess who's awake!" He nods towards Paul and smiles, Steph gets up quickly and runs in to see him and kneels down next to him on the floor, trying to keep her eyes off his leg. Andrew and Chris had cleaned it up and wrapped it but she couldn't help but remember what she had seen when they found him  
  
"I was so worried about you" Steph whispers as Paul sits up a bit and hugs her.  
  
"We have to get out of here, off this island" Paul croaks, "We have to go now, it's dangerous!" Paul grabs Chris's shirt "Get her off of this island Chris! All of you!" Chris grabs Paul's wrist and makes him let go of him. Steph looks at Chris worried. Steph stands up and walks away from Paul with him.  
  
"We can't move him yet, he's too weak and his leg is in no condition to move anywhere" Chris sighs "But something has freaked him out and there Is no way I want to hang around and see what took that bite out of him!" Chris looks back to where Paul is laying with Andrew trying to calm him down ".We have no choice, we cant stay where we are. I'll go with Adam and we'll find somewhere, then we'll come back for you, Andrew and Paul"  
  
"There is no way im letting you and Adam go off on your own, we have no idea what's on this island. Chris it's too dangerous, what if you get hurt! I cant loose you now" Steph says blushing.  
  
Chris smiles and kisses her softly "I wont get hurt, I promise you. We'll find somewhere safer for us to be and then we'll come straight back here, I'll come and get you and we'll be fine" Chris says pulling her into a tight hug.  
  
"Be careful" Steph whispers into his ear, she holds him tighter and rests her head on his shoulder "Chris.I..I Love you" Steph pulls away from him and looks him in the eyes "Chris I think I love you" she says again wanting to make sure she had heard herself right not only him.  
  
"Normally I wouldn't say this, this early on in a relationship or whatever, in fact I don't think I really have said it properly, but..I love you too" Chris says smiling at her. Steph throws her arms around him again and hugs him even tighter, the tears now streaming down her face "Shhh, don't cry, I didn't know I was that bad. I can take it back if you want me to" Chris laughs wiping the tears away from her cheeks with his thumb  
  
"No, don't take it back. I'm just the happiest I've ever been right now" Steph sobs into his shoulder "Be careful" she whispers pulling away from him and walking back over to the others. Chris follows her as they go to tell the others what they were going to have to do.  
  
AN: I know it's a bit short but I'll try and make up for it in the next chapter =) 


	8. They cant control the weather

Chapter 8  
  
Steph sits bolt up right, tears streaming down her face. She looks around her and breaths deeply trying to shake the bad feelings that had just come over her. She reaches up to her neck and holds the necklace tightly in a closed fist. She closes her eyes, something was wrong, she could feel it.  
  
"Steph, are you ok?" Andrew asks sitting up and looking through the darkness at her beside him "What's wrong?" She feels him move closer to her and hug her tightly; she gives in to fighting back the tears and cries hard into his chest. Soon feeling bad when her tears start to soak a patch into his shirt, Andrew strokes her hair softly trying to comfort her.  
  
"There's something wrong, I think it's Chris" Stephanie sobs the tears stinging her eyes  
  
"Steph it's alright. Chris will be fine; you're probably just feeling anxious about him not being here. He's got Adam with him and he can look after himself, they'll be back before you know it and we can get out of here. He wont let us down.you should try and get some rest" Steph gives him a weak smile and nods her head, he was right, Chris wouldn't let them down and neither would Adam. They'd be back..  
  
********************  
  
Mr. Shan stands over the model of the island, a singular lamp shining down onto its surface. With a singular movement of his bony hand he moves two figures away from the others and places them into the jungle. He looks up onto one of the many monitors on the way and smiles.  
  
"Adam come on, we're nearly there!" Chris falls back behind him and starts pushing him up the slope, which had been slowly increasing since they had set out climbing it.  
  
"Nearly where, we don't even know where we are or where we are going!" Adam yells back at him "Chris, im tired. We haven't stopped walking since this morning and my feet are killing me. Have you any idea where we are even heading!" Chris gives up pushing Adam any further and sits down on the gritty floor and embraces his knees. "My point exactly, you don't even know!" Adam moans sitting down on the ground too and throwing his bag to the floor "Maybe we should just go back, it would have been easier to just have all gone together!" he mumbles under his breath watching Chris who sits in silence "Even if we do find somewhere else how are we going to find it again if we go back to get them! We wont find it again! Have you even looked where we are, we're in the middle of this god damn jungle and we don't have a clue where we are!"  
  
"Fine go back if you want to, this isn't a game anymore. So ok you guys had this whole big plan but your plan has gone wrong, Paul has got hurt and there is something out there and we don't know what it is. Now im going to do what I said I would and find somewhere safe for us, if you want to stay here and play your stupid little games and put yourself and your friends at risk then you do that, I wont stop you. I can do this on my own" Chris gets up and carries on walking leaving Adam behind.  
  
"Chris! Wait up! Where are you going? Chris just wait for me!" Adam grabs his bag and sprints after Chris not wanting to go back on his own or to be left in the jungle on his own.  
  
Mr. Shan couldn't help but chuckle to himself, it was going so well and everyone had fooled for it, it wasn't so hard getting the McMahon's to put their money into this. They knew he could control the Island and everything that went on in it; they thought they were just getting Chris and Stephanie together. They didn't know that Mr. Shan had other ideas and that he was using them as guinea pigs.and what good little guinea pigs they were being. Mr. Shan let his bird like eyes wonder over the table; he plucked the plastic bear from out of the jungle and enclosed it in his fist before squeezing tightly letting the broken bear fall to the floor. It had done what he had wanted it to, he no longer needed it. What would he use next? Sharks? Wild animals? No that would be too easy; he needed something they would never expect, something they couldn't control, something that was stronger than anything that man could make.the weather.  
  
********************  
  
"Is it just me or is it starting to get really cold?" Steph asks over to Andrew who is checking on Paul "So much for tropical island and hot sunny weather all the time" she mumbles pulling on her jumper and wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm.  
  
"Stop ya complaining princess, it's been amazing weather up till now" Andrew laughs "If it will make you any happier I'll build a big fire to keep us nice and warm, ok?" Andrew starts bringing more wood over to the fire and stacking it up, he watches Steph out of the corner of his eye. She sits just staring at the ground holding her necklace in her hand.  
  
"You miss him don't you?" Andrew asks not looking up from what he was doing, he sees Steph look up at him and then back at the ground "You don't have to talk to me about it if you don't want to, but if you do I'm here"  
  
"I know.Im going to go and see Paul" Steph gets up and walks inside, Paul is sitting up peeling the bark off of a branch and humming to himself, Steph smiles to herself and goes over to him "Hey ya, feeling any better?" she asks sitting down in front of him as he sees her come in.  
  
"Yeah im alright, it hurts but that's what you get when half your leg eaten" Paul laughs putting the knife and branch down onto the sand "Chris and Andrew did a good job making it better though" he says smiling at her.  
  
"Don't be such a drama queen, it wasn't half your leg only a little bit. Once it's better your only have a nice war wound to show off to the girls" Steph laughs "What are you doing anyway?" Steph nods towards the two branches he has next to him and the big knife.  
  
"Well I thought, as Chris has gone to find us somewhere to move to I'd help and make myself some crutches so I can move easier...makes sense" He says showing her what he's already done of one "But then It's taken me ages to just do this much so god knows when they'll be finished, I was bored and there's nothing else to do"  
  
"Yeah I guess your right" Steph says watching him; she was so relieved he was feeling better than he was. There was a time when she thought he wasn't going to make it but things where going to get better now.she hoped. 


	9. Turning it up to Monsoon

Chapter 9  
  
"Do you ever, I dunno feel like we're being watched?" Adam mumbles looking up at the dark rain clouds sweeping across the sky, he pulls his coat around his shoulders more as he shivers from the cold. "Chris are you listening to me!" Adam yells picking up a branch and poking it into Chris's back. Adam jumps back as Chris grabs it and snatches it away from him. "Whoa easy" Adam says as Chris throws the branch as far as he can through the trees before slumping down onto the ground and burying his head into his folded arms over his knees. "Chris."  
  
"Leave me alone" Chris mutters wiping his eyes with the back of his hands and putting his head down again, he pulls his jacket up over his head as he feels the first few drops of rain falling onto the back of his head, what they didn't know is that it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.  
  
******************** "Stupid rain, took me ages to make that fire!" Andrew moans as he runs inside out of the rain dropping his soaking coat to the floor "I cant believe this weather" he says sitting down with his back pressed against the wall "It doesn't looks like it's going to stop anytime soon either"  
  
"No I guess not" Streph replies quietly as she stands leaning against the mouth of the cave looking out into the rain, it had been raining hard for the past hour now "Do you think they found some shelter out of this alright?" Steph asks turning her head to look at Andrew, Paul busies himself making his crutches.  
  
"Yeah I'm sure they did..Do you think I'd be able to make a fire just inside here?" Andrew says trying to change the subject away from Chris.  
  
"Yeah, I don't see why not. Just make sure it's as close to the entrance as you can or this place will fill with smoke, we're going to need a fire if we're going to eat anyway" Paul says using the ledges in the cave wall to pull himself up, Steph looks over to him and frowns "Don't even start on me, I know you keep telling me I shouldn't be moving but I cant stay in the same position all day alright" Paul growls making Steph look away again and back out into the rain. Andrew sighs and shakes his head; the weather was making everyone grumpy and snap at each other.  
  
Mr. Shan laughed as he watched them fighting among themselves "Bad weather brings bad moods, bad moods bring arguments, arguments bring hurt, hurt brings violence and violence brings.death" he laughs to himself and turns the dial from heavy rain to monsoon. "It seems that Stephanie and Chris aren't coping so well apart, their moods reflect the weather, this is just too good!" He chuckles rubbing his hands together with joy.  
  
After about 20 minutes of trying they finally got their fire going again casting a bright light inside the cave, making their shadows dance along the walls. Steph sits watching as Andrew runs out into the rain with his coat as an umbrella trying to collect some water from the lake to make them some hot drinks. He runs back inside and over to the fire and sits down.  
  
"It's even heavier than it was a couple of hours ago guys, it's getting worse" Andrew says handing Steph the pot of water so she can put it on the fire to boil "I hope you can all swim" Andrew laughs trying to lighten the mood, Steph smiles and looks back out into the rain.  
  
********************  
  
"Adam!" Chris yells snatching at the box of matches as they huddle over the soaking pile of wood and leaves trying to light it "Just give up, your wasting them! You cant light a fire in this weather you asshole!" Chris shouts finding it hard to get himself heard over the noise of the rain that was beating down hard flooding the ground.  
  
"It's your fault we're in this mess!" Adam shouts back at him shoving him backwards, Chris falls over and lands in the mud. The anger was building up inside him, he didn't care that he was now covered in mud. It made no difference, he was already drenched through the skin and his soaking clothes clung tight to his body. How could Adam say that this was all his fault!  
  
"What the hell do you mean this is my fault!" Chris climbs to his feet and shoves Adam back "Screw you!" Chris yells grabbing his bag and starting off down the slope, he'd had enough of this. He should of just left Adam in the jungle on his own a long time ago and gone back to Steph.what was he thinking. Adam was his friend and they'd been arguing about nothing, this place was making them act crazy.  
  
"Chris, where are you going!" Adam yells running after him and grabbing his shoulder, slowing him down and walking beside him "I'm er.sorry, I'm just tired, cold and hungry" Adam mumbles holding out his hand for Chris to shake.  
  
"I know, so am I, Lets just go back yeah" Chris shakes Adams hand and they carry on walking trying to see their way through the rain that was blocking their field of site. "The quicker we move the sooner we can get back" Chris shouts using his arm to shield the rain from his face as he turns to Adam.  
  
"So you can get back to Stephanie you mean!" Adam shouts back and laughs.  
  
"Damn straight!" Chris laughs, "God I'm missing her like mad, I'm hope she's all right," Chris says smiling to himself; hopefully they'd be back together by morning. 


	10. Playing God

Chapter 10  
  
It had taken Steph hours to get to sleep, the heavy rain beating down on the ground and onto the cliff made the whole place echo. The noise was deafening and the cold didn't help matters, her sleep was a light one and the drops of water onto her skin woke her easily. She sat up quickly hoping to see Chris standing over her after returning but discovered that he hadn't and it was just some water running off of the roof. Steph lays back down, annoyed at herself for getting her hopes up. It wasn't long before she was asleep again, for how long, she didn't know.  
  
"The elements don't seem to be slowing Chris and Adam down very much, their determination to get back to the others is helping them keep strong" Mr. Shan mumbles to himself watching the monitors at Chris and Adam battling through the rain "I need something more to stop them" he chuckles looking along the line of figures pausing at the snakes "Too risky, I want them alive" he sighs angrily "Maybe it's not cold enough for you" he laughs before turning the temperature right down "Did you all pack for below freezing temperatures?..I don't think you did!"  
  
********************  
  
"Chris, I'm freezing" Adam whines dragging his feet through the deep water that the rain has caused, suddenly the rain stops and the clouds disappear leaving a bright cloudless sky "Ok, that's freaky"  
  
"Tell me bout it" Chris whispers looking around him and then up at the sky "weather doesn't just do that, it's getting colder every second but it's too wet still to make a fire. We've got to keep going" Chris says looking back at Adam and then down at the murky water they were walking through, it was slowly turning into slush and would soon be frozen over if it carried on getting colder.  
  
"Is it bad that I cant feel my toes anymore?" Adam asks stamping his feet around in the water "It's freezing over, what do we do?" He says kicking at the chunks of ice with his heel.  
  
"Get out of the water Adam" Chris says climbing up onto the bank of the path were the water is shallower "We're getting close to the sea now, it wont be far till we get back to the others, just don't stop or you'll get cold. Keep walking and watch where you step" Chris says continuing to walk forwards using the trees around them so not to slip "This is weird" He mutters  
  
********************  
  
Mr. Shan studies the monitors letting his fingers tap his chin in thought; nothing he did was stopping Chris and his want to get back. He watched carefully as Chris continued to motivate Adam, getting them closer and closer back to the others. "He's got a strong spirit," he mutters to no one in particular.  
  
"He's a fighter" a voice says from the shadows of the room startling Mr. Shan "That's why I knew he'd be good for my daughter" Vince growls stepping into the light as Mr. Shan gets to his feet "What are you doing to them?!" Vince demands glancing up at the pictures on the screen. "They are human beings not things that you can control!" he yells grabbing Mr. Shan's collar. "Vince, Vince, Vince, I suggest you take your hands off of me" Mr. Shan puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out a small remote with a single red button on it "If you refuse then you see this button here, it will destroy the whole island and your precious daughter and her friends with it" Vince lets go off Mr. Shan, not willing to take any chances and risk his daughters life.  
  
"Your sick!" Vince yells making Mr. Shan just laugh "You have no right to play god and destroy peoples lives and put them at risk like you are!" "That's the best part about it Mr. McMahon, I can do anything I want and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Do you really think I would let you use my island just for your silly little love matches and get nothing out of it myself, I didn't want your money. The day you handed them over to me is the day you allowed me to use them as guinea pigs, to test my island and the power it has.. For that, I thank you" he chuckles walking back over to his seat and sitting down. Vince goes to the door "I think you'll find they're locked, looks like you'll be sticking around for the show then doesn't it.. Vince. It looks like Adam and Chris are going to be arriving back any minute"  
  
********************  
  
"Even rain is better than this" Paul sighs leaning back against the wall as the three sit near the fire huddled together trying to keep warm.  
  
"You didn't have to go out in the rain" Andrew says zipping his coat right up to his chin and wrapping his arms around himself trying to keep in all the heat "At least when it was raining I didn't have to sit so close to you Paul, this is not an experience I want to have again ya hear!" Andrew laughs rubbing his hands together and holding them out to the fire to warm them. "You alright Steph?"  
  
"Huh?..Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just missing Chris that's all" Steph says looking up at Andrew and giving him a smile to let him know she's all right.  
  
"I'm missing you too," Chris says dropping his bag to the floor at the cave entrance and walking inside followed by Adam. Steph looks up from the fire and sees him. She jumps up and runs over to him jumping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. "I missed you so much" he whispers in her ear and kisses her.  
  
"Your freezing cold" Steph says as he carries her over to the fire and sits down with her in his lap. "I have never been so worried in my life, when it started raining I didn't know if you'd found any shelter or not and then with the cold and I was so worried about you.." Chris kisses her silencing her and brushes the hair away from her face.  
  
"I'm fine" he laughs watching as Adam dives for the fire and starts bathing himself in the heat of it "There was no shelter but the trees, we walked for a day and a bit in the rain before deciding to come back, we would have never found anywhere in that weather" Steph hugs him tightly and puts her head on his chest.  
  
"That's what he wants you all to think anyway, the real reason is because he couldn't bare to be away from Stephanie" Adam laughs turning his back on the fire to warm it. The group was back together now but they still had the problem of the weather and whatever dangers the island had to offer. 


	11. No, we're not going to die!

Chapter 11  
  
"What are you doing out here, it's freezing cold" Steph says wrapping her arms around his waist, Chris is standing outside throwing stones across the ice covered lake they had been swimming in and sunbathing near just a few days before. Now a thick cover of ice has formed on it, thick enough to walk on.  
  
"You think this is cold, try growing up in Canada" Chris laughs skimming another stone over the surface making it hit the others and sending them sliding all over the place "Are you scared?" Chris says turning to face her and wrapping his arms around her tightly.  
  
"Yeah, I just want to go home" Steph says looking at him "But I'm glad you're here, and in a way even though there is all this stuff going on. If we'd never come here I would never have had the guts to act on how I feel about you" Chris leans down and kisses her softly "I love you"  
  
"I love you too," Chris whispers as they kiss again. Adam coughs loudly and starts clearing his throat trying to get their attention, Steph pulls away from him and rests her head on his chest. "What do you want?" Chris laughs looking over to Adam who stands looking innocently at them. "You wanna go skating did you say?"  
  
"No, I didn't say anything" Adam replies looking at Chris like he's gone mad, he looks over at the lake and then back at Chris "Oh no, no way! Stay away from me!" Adam yells as Chris lets go of Steph and runs towards him "Don't make me kick your ass Jericho!" Chris dives at Adam and grabs his foot before dragging him along the ground towards the frozen lake "Adam doesn't want to go skating!" Adam wails, Chris grabs hold of his coat before throwing him across the surface like he had been doing with the stones making Adam scream.  
  
"Adam, dude you scream like a girl!" Chris laughs as Adam finally hits the cliff with a thud and sits up on the ice; he frowns at Chris as Chris and Steph stand laughing watching him. Adam tries to climb to his feet but the ice is too slippery and he can't stand up.  
  
"I'm stuck!" Adam yells trying again to climb up trying to use the cliff face as support but slipping and falling flat on his back "and it's cold!" he says feeling the ice start to go through his clothes onto his skin. "Chris you ass!"  
  
"Come on, it's just like skating. Just push yourself up like you would if you'd fallen over during a hockey game or something," Chris yells at him and starts laughing again watching Adam's failing attempts. Steph puts her arm around his waist and lays her head against him; Andrew comes out after hearing all the noise outside.  
  
"I didn't play hockey!" Adam shouts getting frustrated, Chris sighs. He steps carefully onto the ice and starts walking towards Adam, he holds his hand out to him and pulls him up "You're an ass Chris Irvine and now I'm cold!" Adam laughs as they go back to the edge and onto the land.  
  
********************  
  
"Everything I do they turn into a game, or get out of!" Mr. Shan yells slamming his fist down on the table.  
  
"You can't break them Shan, you might as well give up now. You can see it works, let them go" Vince says watching as Mr. Shan studies the maps "They are stronger than you" Mr. Shan's bony fingers clench into a fist as he turns to face Vince McMahon.  
  
"NO ONE IS STRONGER THAN ME!" He eyes becoming wide with fury, he turns back to face his wall of screens watching each of them carefully one after the other "No one.." He mutters to himself.  
  
********************  
  
"Hey Chris" Andrew shouts from the mouth of the cave "Paul wants to talk to you" Chris looks over to where Steph is jumping on the ice trying to show Adam how say if is. Chris jogs towards Andrew and goes inside.  
  
"Hey Paul, what's up?" Chris says sitting down in front of him wondering what he wanted to talk to him about, he watches as Andrew walks over too to join them and sits down as well on the floor. Chris looks at them both confused "What's wrong?" he asks again.  
  
"We've just been talking and we wanted to talk to you without Steph, she'll get worried otherwise" Paul says shifting his weight so he's closer to the warmth of the fire "It's getting colder all the time and the way it's going we aren't going to survive out here, we aren't prepared for these kinda temperatures" Paul mumbles staring into the fire sadly.  
  
"Yeah I know, I've been thinking about it a lot too" Chris admits, it had been on his mind for a while. Even if they did have cold weather clothing and shelters they would still suffer at the rate the temperature was dropping, they had no chance as they were "So what do we do?"  
  
"We have to get out of here," Andrew says pulling his knees in towards him "All we have to figure out is how, the boat wont be here for ages yet.."  
  
"Two weeks, five days, sixteen hours and 45 minutes" Paul chimes in, Andrew and Chris look at each other and then back at Paul "I've had nothing else to do, I can't walk, I cant collect firewood, I cant find us food! All I can do is count, count down the time till we can get out of here," Paul says glumly looking down at the floor. Chris puts his head in his hands trying to think. "I've also worked out that the temperature has been dropping by about 5 a day, that means that by the time the boat comes for us it would have dropped well 95 below zero, maybe more. Nothing can withstand temperatures of that" Chris closes his eyes and sighs  
  
"We're gunna die aren't we?" Adam says as he walks into the cave with Steph, Steph walks over to Chris and sits in his lap as he holds onto her tightly.  
  
"No..We're not going to die!" Chris says firmly looking up at the others "There must be a way of here!" 


	12. Someone is controlling us

Chapter 12  
  
"What's the noise?" Chris says looking up at Adam, "Have you got a cell phone?" Chris says narrowing his eyes and looking questionably at Adam "We had them taken off of us before we even left" Adam just sits there smiling at him. "You had a your cell all this time and you didn't bother saying anything, we could be out of here by now" Chris gets up and goes over to Adam who pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and holds it out in his hand to Chris.  
  
"I tucked it inside the bottoms of my trousers while they were searching our bags, I thought we might need it" Adam says realizing why he hadn't thought about handing it over before so they could call someone. "Does it work?"  
  
"We're god knows how far away from the main land and the nearest aerials so I really doubt it" Paul says shaking his head watching Chris start banging the phone against his hand trying to get it to work. "Chris it wont work, your going to break it"  
  
"Chris give it here! It's mine!" Adam shouts as Chris starts smacking it against the cave wall "Your going to bust it!" Adam tries to grab it from Chris but he shoves him away "Give it back now!"  
  
"Stop fighting, Chris just give him back his phone" Steph says taking it away from Chris and handing it back to Adam "Just put it back in your bag and leave it there" she says opening Adam's bag and pointing to him to put it back. Adam drops it in before leaning back against the wall hard angry with Chris now. Suddenly part of the wall gives way and he falls backwards through a small hole in the rock.  
  
"What the.." Andrew says pulling Adam up and peering into the darkness "Looks like we found ourselves a secret door or something" he mutters tracing his finger round the edge of the hole "This has been cut and the piece of stone replaced"  
  
"Where do you think it goes to?" Steph asks standing up and walking over to him and looking in too "It look like a tunnel to somewhere"  
  
"I don't think we should go in, we don't know where it goes do we. It might be dangerous" Chris says standing behind her and putting his arms around her waist. Adam passes Andrew a flashlight and switches it on and shines it down the tunnel.  
  
"Aww come on Chris, where's your sense of adventure?" Steph laughs turning sideways and putting one arm around his neck "I think we should see where it goes to" Steph says trying to make out the size of the tunnel. She steps forward a bit and climbs through the hole; Chris grabs her arm and pulls her back.  
  
"Ok if we're going then your not going first I will" Chris says stepping in front of her "You guys coming too?" Chris asks turning back to them.  
  
"I'll stay with Paul, you three go" Andrew says "If you find anything exciting just come back and get us" he laughs "It probably goes no where anyway" he says handing them their bags and some flash lights "Just be careful alright" Chris nods his head and starts walking inside followed by Steph and Adam.  
  
********************  
  
"So they've found the tunnel, took them long enough" Mr. Shan laughs "I would have thought they would have found it days ago" he says running his fingers through his dark black hair.  
  
"Where does it go?" Vince asks looking up at the biggest screen, which is now focused on Chris, Stephanie and Adam walking through the dark. Mr. Shan spins round in his chair and looks at Vince, his eyes dark and angry.  
  
"And why would I want to tell you that, you'll see soon enough" he croaks, smiling to himself "How would you like to see your daughter?" he asks turning back to his table and looking out of the corner of his eye at Vince.  
  
"You're bringing her here!" Vince says jumping up from his seat and walking over to Mr. Shan's and stands next to him. "Tell me! Are you leading them here" Vince demands grabbing the back of Mr. Shan's chair and turning him to face him.  
  
********************  
  
"Just keep hold of my hand so I don't loose you" Chris says squeezing Steph's hand tightly, she rolls her eyes and squeezes his hand back.  
  
"Chris I'm not going to get lost, there's no where for me to get lost to. It's a tunnel" Steph laughs "But thank you for caring" Steph brushes the cobwebs away from her face but feels something crawling up her back and screams falling backwards. Adam laughs and carries on pretending to be a spider on her back till she turns around and smacks him in the arm. The section of floor she stands on gives way and she starts falling.  
  
"STEPH!" Chris yells falling to his knees and reaching down trying to get her, Adam lies on his stomach on the other side looking down but neither can see her. Adam looks up at Chris who has his face against the floor and his eyes closed. Adam gets up and walks over to him carefully jumping over the hole; he crouches down next to him and puts his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Chris..We'll go back and get some help," Adam says quietly putting his arms under Chris's pulling him up to his feet. "We'll find her, I promise" Adam sighs watching Chris. He doesn't say a word just stands with his hands covering his faces "I promise we will" Adam puts his arm across his shoulders and heads back the way they came.  
  
"Wow that was quick, find anything interesting" Andrew says as Chris and Adam appear again, Chris shakes his head and walks outside on his own. "Was it something I said, where's Steph?"  
  
"She's gone..This is all set up. There was a trap door, and then there was that hole in the wall. Then there is the weather and everything that is happening. Someone is controlling this Drew and whoever it is meant to get Steph" Adam says "Someone is controlling us and everything that happens on this island"  
  
********************  
  
Steph finds herself in a dark room, she hadn't even fallen very far and there was something soft of the floor when she landed. She looks around her trying to make out the dimensions of wherever she was; it seemed to be a room with a low ceiling with a shoot in the roof where she had fallen through. Suddenly a bright rectangle of light lights up the whole room.  
  
"Welcome to the island Stephanie" a deep hissing voice says, Stephanie recognized it from somewhere she just couldn't think where from..Then it dawned on her.  
  
"Mr. Shan?" Stephanie whispers and is greeted by him laugh. He steps into the room and ushers her towards the light, which she could now see was a door. "Dad!" Steph yells seeing him sitting in the next room, she rushes over to him and hugs him "What's going on?"  
  
"Maybe I should explain that" Mr. Shan laughs closing the door behind him, he points to the screens on the wall and the model of the island "Why don't you take a look for yourself"  
  
"Chris.." Steph whispers looking at the screens. 


	13. How do you like my island?

Chapter 13  
  
"Chris, we got some food in here if you want some" Andrew says walking outside over to him, Chris turns to look at him and shakes his head "Well if you change your mind we've saved you some..We will find her you know" he says patting Chris on the back before walking back inside. Paul climbs to his feet and grabs his crutches and goes outside, he sits down next to Chris in silence.  
  
"I'm worried about her too" Paul says watching Chris "She's important to me as well but I know that she'll be alright. She's a lot tougher than she lets on, you gunna come inside and eat so we can go find her or what?" Paul nudges him in the side.  
  
"I don't really feel like eating" Chris mumbles staring at the floor  
  
"Chris get your little Canadian ass in there, eat some god damn food so we can go and find her" Paul yells surprising Chris, Chris laughs and shakes his head before saluting Paul and walking inside.  
  
********************  
  
"What are we going to do dad?" Steph whispers to him as they sit watching Mr. Shan pace up and down the room mumbling to himself "We've got to get them out of there" she sighs closing her eyes and putting her chin in the palm of her hands. Vince looks at her and the back at Mr. Shan  
  
"I don't know what we can do, there's no point us even trying to over power him, he knows who to use this place and we don't, we could hurt them even more" Vince says putting his hand on her shoulder and hugging her.  
  
"But they are going to die if we don't do anything, we have to do something" Steph whispers glaring at Mr. Shan, thankful that he isn't facing their way.  
  
"There is nothing we can do Stephanie, we've got to rely on them now. They have to save themselves..and us" Vince sighs rubbing his tired eyes "I guess we just have to be thankful that none of the others got stuck down here with you"  
  
"Chris will save us, I know he will" Steph mumbles wishfully to herself, he would save them and they'd all get off this stupid island and go home.  
  
********************  
  
"Lower me down on a rope and then we can see how far down It goes" Adam says as him, Chris, Andrew and Paul look down into the hole shining their flash lights down into the darkness.  
  
"And what if the ropes aren't long enough and this hole is deeper than we think, we don't know what's down there. There could be like animals or snakes or something down there," Andrew says before receiving a hard punch in the arm from Chris  
  
"Shut up Andrew, my girlfriends down there, I really don't need to have you saying there could be stuff down there like that!" Chris says grabbing the rope and tying it around his waist "If anyone is going down there it's me" he says handing the end of the rope to Paul and Adam.  
  
"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Paul says pressing his back against the wall and wrapping the rope around his arms while Adam does the same. "Got any better ideas?" Chris says before slipping over the edge making Paul and Adam grab the rope tightly, Adam starts cursing under his breath about getting rope burn.  
  
"God Chris you weigh a ton!" Adam yells waiting for Chris to say something back to him, they all sit in silence waiting for a reply "Chris.." Andrew swaps places with Adam; Adam grabs a flashlight and peers over the edge shining it down into the hole. "Chris, where you at?!" Adam yells letting the light glide over the walls. "Oops" Adam, whispers looking at the others.  
  
"Ow!" Chris yells from down in the hole.  
  
"Did you drop the flash light down there?" Paul asks as Adam nods his head sheepishly "You clumsy idiot!" Paul yells "Chris you at the bottom!?" Paul shouts trying to make himself heard.  
  
"Yeah, it's not that far down" Chris shouts up to them picking up the flashlight and shining it around the room "Thanks for the light down here Ad" Chris says sarcastically looking around him. It was just a normal room, not something you'd really think to find in the middle of a mountain.  
  
"We're sending Adam down too, he's the lightest ok Chris" Paul yells as Adam gets ready to be lowered.  
  
"Yeah ok" Chris yells "Of all people" Chris mutters rolling his eyes before getting kicked in the head by Adam on his way down "ADAM!"  
  
********************  
  
"What was that?" Mr. Shan says glancing over at the door.  
  
"CHRIS!" Steph shouts running over to the door and pressing her head against it, she tries to open the door as Mr. Shan stands there laughing watching her "CHRIS CAN YOU HEAR ME!" Steph shouts banging on the door.  
  
"That's Steph" Chris says turning to Adam and shining the flashlight on the door "She's alive, she's in there!" he shouts running over to the door "I can hear you! Steph are you alright, what's happening?" he shouts banging against the door "Adam, help me open this" Adam and Chris start pulling at the door trying to get it to move.  
  
"Chris, Adam is right, there is someone controlling this, he was right!" Steph yells as Vince now joins her at the door trying to open it.  
  
"She wasn't even there when I said that" Adam whispers to Chris  
  
"How did you know he said that!" Chris shouts driving his shoulder into the door, Mr. Shan just stands there laughing at them all trying to get through the locked steel door. He walks over to his desk and flicks the switch making the door slide open and making Chris and Adam fall through it onto the floor.  
  
"She knew because she saw it, she's been watching you the whole time she's been here and her father for longer than that" Mr. Shan laughs "Nice to see you again Christopher Irvine, how do you like my island so far?" 


	14. The condition is you Chris

Chapter 14  
  
Steph runs over to Chris who wraps her up in his arms tightly, he climbs to his feet pulling her up with him and glares at Mr. Shan. Mr. Shan laughs before flicking the switch sealing up the door again, Adam runs over to it trying to hold it open making Mr. Shan laugh even more.  
  
"You're the one doing this" Chris yells walking over to him and grabbing him round the throat.  
  
"Temper temper, you better let go of me Chris. Why don't we get Vince to tell you what I'll do if you lay a finger on me, he's a lot like you, you know that. He thought that hurting me would solve this too, I told him what I'd do to this place if he did" Mr. Shan growls as Chris lets go of him and looks at Vince.  
  
"He's going to destroy this place if we touch him" Vince sighs putting his hand on Chris's shoulder trying to calm him down "We cant risk that" Chris backs away from Mr. Shan and walks back over to Stephanie  
  
"He's bluffing" Adam says finally giving up on the door and sitting down against it, Mr. Shan takes his attention away from the others and focuses on Adam.  
  
"Oh is that so, care to test that theory?" He questions smiling at him and tapping his pocket that contained the control pad. Adam shakes his head and stares at the floor "I didn't think so..Now, I've been thinking. I'll let you off this island under one condition"  
  
"What's the condition?" Chris asks looking straight at Mr. Shan.  
  
"The condition, well that's the best part of all of this. The condition is you, you see there is only one way off this Island and that's by boat, I have a boat but there isn't room for all of you and I'm not staying here. I have room for Paul, for Andrew, for Adam, for Vince, for Stephanie and for myself but I'm afraid there isn't room for you. You stay and I let the others go but if you chose not to stay alone then they all stay with you and I take the boat alone, it's your decision" Mr. Shan says "Make your decision now, I don't have time for messing around" he says tapping his fingers impatiently against his chin.  
  
"You let the others go, I'll stay here" Chris says finally "But I want your word that they'll get back safely, I want your word" Chris says trying to block out Stephanie's crying and her pleading with him not to do it.  
  
"You have my word, they will get back safely" Mr. Shan says holding his hand out to Chris to seal the deal.  
  
"Chris please, you don't have to do this. We'll get out of here; you don't have to give up like this. Please don't do this, I can't leave you here. You can't just stay here; I'll stay here with you. I don't want to be without you" Steph sobs tears streaming down her face, Chris turns his back to her and closes his eyes "Chris I love you, please don't do this"  
  
"I have to do this" Chris whispers, Steph takes hold of his hand and turns him to face her and hugs him tightly "If I have to give up my life so you can have yours, so all of you can have your lives then that's what I'll do" Chris says kissing the top of her head as she cries into his shoulder "Please don't make me feel like a bad person for doing this to you, please understand that I have to"  
  
"Oh boo hoo, please stop your breaking my heart here" Mr. Shan laughs pulling Steph away from Chris "Go get the other two, tell them you've found a way out of here and tell them to come down here" Mr. Shan orders pushing Chris towards the door and opening it "and hurry up, I don't have all day" Chris walks into the room.  
  
"Guys..Your going home, I got us a way out of here, come on down here!" Chris shouts up to Andrew and Paul. A few minutes later a rope is lowered and Paul appears, Chris helps him walk into the other room and sits him down next to Stephanie who is crying. Chris then goes to get Andrew and walks back in with him.  
  
"You can't do this Chris!" Paul shouts getting up as Chris walks in "Stephanie told me what you're doing, that's insane, you can't do this to yourself. We'll find another way!"  
  
"There is no other way Chris and you know it, you give up your life for Stephanie and your friends or you all die here, it's your decision. No one can make up your mind but you" Mr. Shan says pushing Paul back into his seat.  
  
"Just think about this Chris, give him some time!" Adam yells.  
  
"There's nothing to think about, I have no choice" Chris mumbles trying not to look at Steph "We have no time, I do this now and you can all leave, I don't have any time" he says looking around the group and then back to Mr. Shan.  
  
"Please Chris" Stephanie cries looking up at him, she walks over to him and puts her arms around his neck and kisses him softly "Please don't do this to us"  
  
"I have no choice" Chris whines trying hard not to show how scared he is, this was his only option to get Steph and the others off this island alive. He had to do this.  
  
"Times up, what's your decision? You have my word that they will leave this Island safely" Mr. Shan says holding out his bony hand again to Chris, a shake of the hand was all it was going to take to seal this deal. If he shook Mr. Shan's hand they'd be safe, they'd get out of there alive. They..Apart from him. "Well.." 


	15. Going homeor are they?

Chapter 15  
  
Chris holds out his hand and shakes with Mr. Shan, so this is what signing your soul away to the devil is like Chris thought as he watched a huge grin spread across Mr. Shan's face.  
  
"You made the right decision Chris, your friends can all leave now. They will be safe now, I gave you my word" Mr. Shan says pulling his hand away. "Everyone ready to go home then" Mr. Shan says beaming at the others who stand in silence looking at Chris not knowing what to say to him.  
  
"Cheer up guys, your going home. And it'll be in time for Christmas" Chris says trying to sound happy for them "I'll be fine here" Chris says trying to reassure them but it wasn't working. "Go on, just go"  
  
"You didn't have to do this Chris" Paul says. They all suddenly turn round when they hear a thud and look at Stephanie who stands trying to act innocent while Mr. Shan lays knocked out on the floor.  
  
"Anyone know how to drive a boat, we've got room for Chris now" Steph smiles at them all and puts the chair down on the floor "I didn't kill him ok, stop looking at me like that. He's just knocked out so we have time to escape alright!" Steph laughs, "Did you guys really think I was going to do nothing and walk out of here without Blondie!"  
  
"Remind me to never ever get on the wrong side of her when she has a chair near by!" Adam says walking over to the desk and pressing a button to open the doors "How are we supposed to know where the boat is though, it could be anywhere"  
  
"How about we follow the big blue signs that say 'To the boat', do you think they lead us to the boat?" Chris says sarcastically pointing out the signs outside making Adam blush with embarrassment, why hadn't he thought of that!  
  
"Can we just go now, I really want to get out of here!" Andrew says walking outside the cold suddenly hitting him "I forgot how cold it was out here, I'm so glad we're leaving" They all start walking towards the shore where the boat is, there only way off the island.  
  
"I'm glad somebody decided not to give up on me and leave me there, everyone else seemed quite happy to let me die, are they trying to tell me something?" Chris says putting his arm around Steph as they walk.  
  
"Yeah they all hate you and would rather you stay here on this island and rot than come back with us and go back to work, they'd all love it if they didn't have to put up with Chris Jericho anymore and that they all knew he was stuck on some island in the middle of no where and couldn't escape, think of the merchandise we could sell!" Steph laughs and kisses him.  
  
"So Vince do you know how to drive this thing?" Adam asks as he jumps onto the boat and starts pretending to drive it and starts spinning the wheel. "Which is the forward button then?" Vince starts the boat up and waits for everyone to get on board "Wow, how do you know how to use this thing?"  
  
"Well how do you think I got here?" Vince asks turning to Adam and smiling, everyone goes silent and stares at Vince. "Did you really think I would just turn up, or follow Mr. Shan to get here. Of course not, I was working with him the whole time. Our plan was going so well till you lot had to mess it all up that's why he decided to let you go with me..To the backup island. We haven't even begun to try them out" Vince laughs "Your island adventures have just begun!" Vince turns the wheel hard and starts sailing towards the next island. Everyone looks at each other..Another island!  
  
AN: Well that's it Ladies and Gents, I know the last chapter is short but I didn't want to keep you in suspense for too long, I thought that 15 gripping chapters was enough =) I hope you enjoyed reading this story. I know it had a kinda strange ending but I planned that all along, whahaha *evil laugh* Please e-mail me or review what you thought of this story as all feedback is much appreciated. Please check out my other stories too. Thanks to everyone that has read and reviewed my story, love ya all! 


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